See me fight to claim this whole state as my Utopia. I won’t stop until I get to that.

An open, belated letter to Stephen F. Austin

When, in 1825, you ousted the Waco tribe, a hex

yoked around your city: eternal retribution. Jeez,

again with bloody tragedy? Aye, there’s the rub:

Every generation, some new violence, some gruff,

grandiose catastrophe, or sick, rich

incident. Slavery, massacre. Then the DOJ,

Karesh, having it out at Mount Carmel,

months-long siege, eighty-four dead. Government wins,

of course, but that doesn’t make it right. Just stop.

Quit your colonizing now and consider:

sometimes, consequences last centuries. Quit

undoing peace, waking vengeful gods: Hel, Malsumis, Shanidev.

____________________________________________

Bio:

Allyson Whipple is the director of the Austin Feminist Poetry Festival and the author of We’re Smaller Than We Think We Are (Finishing Line Press). She also serves as vice president of Austin Poetry Society. When not focused on one of her various poetry endeavors, she teaches technical writing, and is also pursuing a black belt in Kung Fu.